A season to let go
Hello to my return journeyers. A warm welcome to my semi-constant journeyers. And, a very special welcome to my new journeyers.
I am so glad you’re here.
I have just returned from the deepest of journeys. It is always a good reminder that no two journeys are the same. Some journeys are tricky to get into, while others take you away into an altered state of consciousness so deeply and quickly that it can be a challenge to find your way back.
Today is the first new moon of Autumn – a perfectly paradoxical time to journey, as the new moon symbolizes beginnings, and yet we are fully into the season of endings.
Despite journeying regularly and frequently for those who find their way into my healing room seeking self-understanding and/or healing, my own journeying practice has somewhat slipped away. It is so very easy to fall asleep inside your own life and forget that the spiritual aspect of the Self needs tending to.
I have been wrestling with a big question of whether to let a part of my healing practice die. This question has taken up significant real estate in the mental and emotional aspect of my Self for quite a few turns of my personal wheel. The shift into the Autumn season that signifies release seems to bring forward from the shadows, from the places normally just out of reach in my waking state, questions and answers that I may have been avoiding or turning a blind eye to.
October 2, 2024 – New Moon Journey
As the drumming began, I found myself standing before a blazing sacred fire – but contrary to the expected, I was not alone. Among the people around the fire, I recognized my two companions and Shamanic assistants – Lindsay and Ashley. They were drumming for me. I looked down to feel the drum in my hands to find that my drum was not there. As I watched them drum, other people were stepping into the circle around the fire, and others were stepping away. They all remained faceless.
My constant journeyer, you know that every part of a journey – no matter how small – is significant. Interpreting journeys is something I love to do and is a large part of my healing practice.
It wasn’t long before I recognized her – first by her presence – and then by the way she stood before me and placed her hands on my cheeks. During our sessions, she meticulously scoured non-ordinary reality or the Spirit World for my missing soul pieces and blew them home into my body. Just like so many times before, she placed her hands on my body and prepared to blow the soul piece home. This was different. Instead of my body, she held my face and blew into my mouth. The force knocked me back what felt like a hundred feet, and my black slammed into the edge of a rocky cliff. I slumped to the ground and fell down layers and layers, deep into the belly of Mother Earth.
Sometimes, it is difficult to return to the Lower World because this is one of the places where we work with the Shadow aspects of the Self. We can connect with the parts of our Self that we may see as too wounded, too separate, too dark, too scary — you get the point. The Lower World is where we can retrieve split-off soul pieces, but it is also the place where we have to dig in and dig down to the roots of something. We cannot always journey up to the etheric realms for guidance. Often, we need to go in.
I could not say for sure how many layers down I fell. Deep enough that I could barely see, and I felt unbearably alone. I recognized the strangeness of this sensation as it is unusual for me to journey and feel alone, and this is when I remembered her teaching about Power Animals / Guardian Spirits and how sometimes we can forget them in places in non-ordinary reality, or they can become trapped.
As a Contemporary Shamanic Practitioner who journeys for other people seeking healing and self-understanding, I rely on my Power Animal to guide me through the journey state when working with others. It is a good practice for me – and for you – to check in with your Power Animal from time to time.
I saw Stag in the distance, but it was Tiger (my first Power Animal) that came first. We quickly joined and raced through the Lower World. I had to ask for guidance several times during this journey. There’s no other way to describe it other than the journey felt “thick.” After some time, I found myself in my home, walking through the spaces of my house and outside. I sained our property line – another good reminder that this is a time to clear and cleanse by smoke and fire. Just as rapidly as I left the Lower World, I found myself in the Middle World (what we know as this reality devoid of time and space).
In just a few weeks, on Sunday, October 27, I will facilitate a Shamanic journeying retreat in honour of Samhain, Halloween or All Hallows Eve. This is the time of year when the veil between this world and the other world thins, and it is possible to connect with the energies of those who have departed before us. This is also the time that we energetically and spiritually release thought forms, ideas, concepts, relationships, etc., that no longer contribute to our overall well-being.
In my journey, I found myself at the retreat's location and sat with my guides to watch the retreat unfold before me.
I often journey in preparation for workshops and retreats. This is a practice that has been incredibly valuable and something that you can choose to practice, too.
The purpose of the retreat became clear. I became clear. We did not linger and back down into the Lower World we travelled. It was there that I found my answer to the question that has been weighing so much on my mind and Soul.
When I returned from my journey, it felt as though it could not have been just 20 minutes. But, as I remind my return journeyers often, this practice can restore such deep peacefulness that it feels as though you have slept a thousand of the most rejuvenating sleeps.
My journeyers, Autumn is here. I see and sense the paradox of this season more clearly than ever before. I am asking myself what I must release, let go of or allow to die so that the bulbs that I have planted deep in the Earth can grow in the Spring that follows.
Ask yourself: what am I ready to let go of or let die this season?
Then, plant the bulb.
We will be doing this work when we gather in person on October 27.
If I don’t see you at the retreat, I’ll meet you in the Spirit World.
As always, thank you for your kind attention.
Until we meet again in this time, this place, this space, happy journeying.
-Heather
